A lot of your results? They come with this...

“The moment it gets challenging is the same moment you get results.”

Would you agree?

These were the words of the woman hosting the online fitness class I participated in this morning. It was a high-intensity workout, which meant getting out of breath and sweating fairly quickly. After recently deciding to ramp things up and move beyond Pilates into some more sweat-inducing workouts, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t the odd moment where I wanted to throw in the towel and hit the shower early. Well, so far at least, I’ve hung in there every time.

Because if I’m being honest, I agree with my online trainer. Challenge can sometimes equal results. Challenge can sometimes be the moment which separates the wheat from the chaff so to speak.

A prevalent message which resonates all over the online business world space is that ‘it gets to be easy’, right? And on some levels, I’m all for it, totally agree, and don’t believe we should be sacrificing what’s most important (faith, family, friendships) for the sake of our next goals, or whatever we’re aiming for. But I DON’T think that this means everything is always easy. Far from it.

Sometimes you’ll work longer hours, sometimes you’ll spend longer than you want to spend dealing with tech, sometimes you’ll make scary investments, and sometimes things won’t turn out the way you’ve planned.

None of that is easy. But in the midst of all of that hardship, I believe there are lessons to be learned and results on the way.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)

Imagine that. Imagine rejoicing when difficulties are presented to us, because deep down, we know that actually, they’re shaping and moulding us, and they’re teaching us something which will cause us to grow.

Will you choose to see your obstacles as opportunities?

I remember starting my new job at our church and thinking that this was IT for me. At least for a while. On paper, the job sounded like exactly my type of thing – leading young adults in pursuing their calling, whilst growing in their faith as I taught from the Word, and serving the church and community. It was a lot of my favourite things thrown into one.

Well, despite countless efforts – and I mean countless, not just on my part but also on the part of many other faithful and wonderful friends and church family, the programme I thought I’d moved to the other side of London for didn’t take off. I found myself confused. I questioned whether or not I’d ever ‘fit’ somewhere and do meaningful work in the world like my heart so longed for. After being laid off from my role as a High School Teacher only a year or so earlier, I started to think that I was perhaps good for nothing and that there wasn’t a ‘job’ anywhere which would ‘fit’ me.

But once I pressed pause on the pity parties and turned it into purpose, everything changed.

Usually glib sounding statements (at least to me) like ‘be the change you want to see’, became drivers to me. I turned tears around and got to work on what had previously been a hobby of mine – writing words and sharing them online.

What was once something I did whenever I ‘felt’ like it, because something I was disciplined enough to do, no matter how I felt – and I stayed the course! I shared my work with the world. I allowed myself to get vulnerable again, even though everything within me was convinced I was setting myself up for another opportunity to be chewed up and spat out again.

I started out by writing to the (approximately) 30 people who were on my email list. If there were 30 people interested in reading words about the Word, I thought, then those were my people. I didn’t let number, or engagement, or anything really stop me from doing exactly what was in front of me to do.

I wasn’t available for drama, or naysayers, or ambiguity. I was doing this.

And soon the words became courses and then the courses became coaching, and the coaching became group programs and memberships. The words stayed the course though. They’re here for the long haul.

And now we’re at today. Supporting women in building faith, AND building business. Two areas I’m so passionate about.

Faith, because it’s my life blood and without it I’m nothing. Because we need to go deeper into what the Word says about who and Whose we are as we embark on what we’re called to walk out.

And business because I’m convinced there are so many others like me out there. Others who continually find themselves seemingly not cut out for conventional and tired of trying. Those who know they’re called for something different. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not especially something easier – it’s just something which actually sets their soul on fire and puts their God-given skills to work.

If you know that’s you, may I encourage you today to keep going – to keep writing, speaking, teaching, guiding, coaching – or whatever it is you’re called to do.

Because that’s the work which is going to change the world someday. That means it won’t go uncontested or challenged. It won’t always feel like you’re ‘living the dream’. But you’ll know it’s right, you’ll know you’re called there, and you’ll know you’re in for the long haul, come what may.

“The moment it gets challenging is the moment you get results.”

And there will be many moments. And lots of results too. Plus your fair share of challenge, of course. Keep going.

The world is waiting for your work.

Building a business and not sure where to start with your small following and/or list? I know that feeling too well. Which is why I've created a FREE guide with tips to fill your first or next program, no matter the size of your following. To grab it, simply click the button below.

I coach, write, teach and run programs which infuse practical strategies with Biblical principles (which I personally think is the best rule of thumb for success.) I moved from a 7-year High School teaching career, to building and scaling my business after starting out as a hobby-status blogger in 2011. Within months, I was able to go totally full time and haven't looked back. My success, as someone who previously would have never seen myself as an entrepreneur means that I'm now beyond passionate about business being an expression of Kingdom-building here on earth. Hobby status and inconsistent feast to famine months aren't cutting it for you anymore right? You're meant for a business which has faith as your foundation AND soars with success. That's where I come in.